Welcome to MeanMesa! The blog for those who have become suspicious of everything else...

Friday, September 22, 2017

The Painful Pragmatism of NOT Impeaching

The "Non-Lethal" Alternative

Which is only about 23% "non-lethal,

but we have to run with what we have.

Yes, MeanMesa understands that the entire world is waiting for Americans to permanently rid the White House of all these dangerous types. Unhappily, such a possibility would rest far too heavily on the foundational requirement that these Americans emerge from the darkness as a prelude. However, to the point of this post, no matter how much American voters want to force Trump out of the White House, MeanMesa is convinced that the "bigger picture" of what things might look like after that "cleansing" are far from anything even remotely similar to an "unequivocal step ahead."

Here, we can spend just a minute reviewing exactly how horrible things have become for the President's political future. For anyone still not fully aware of the dismal facts, MeanMesa offers these links:

Although there remains an unsettling "disconnect" in the results derived from FOX News polling participants and Republican sympathizers in general, the wider demographic of national numbers depicts an unstable Trump more and more as a "wild animal trapped in a corner." This is not a casual, academic conclusion, either. Un-elected Republican Presidents -- when they find themselves tormented by such a stubbornly durable predicament -- almost inevitable turn to war as a mechanism for political revitalization.

Because Trump prides himself with continuously manifesting a nerve wracking strategy of complete unpredictability, there is no telling what nation might be selected as the ["politically suitable"] target for such fevered dreams or -- importantly -- the severity of the war making munitions he might command for use in the attack on the unfortunate recipient.

So, why not Impeach him?

MeanMesa has organized a list of "complications" which would emerge almost immediately if the process were to begin in earnest. Any conclusion drawn concerning the matter's likely consequences should include a frank weighing of the gravity of either acting or not acting to take such a step.

The Republic After Trump Is Gone

The problem may be even greater than just Ryan, Pence and McConnell.

What challenges emerge from having Republicans,

billionaires and oligarchs in charge of everything?

Although the United States is currently obsessed with how the Russians manipulated the election which left the unlikely Donald Trump as President, very little public curiosity is being directed at the adjacent question of "How in the world did Republicans wind up controlling the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Supreme Court in addition to the White House?"

This is not indulgent sarcasm, either.

Trump, himself, received significantly "less" of the number of votes which would have normally been required to beat Hillary Clinton. The Republicans controlling the US government haven't offered anything beyond oligarch-funded hate media for the US voters and haven't won nearly enough elections for decades to suddenly be at the helm. The "tipping point" Supreme was brazenly shoe horned into power by the meat handed Senatorial treason of Mitch McConnell.

Stir faster! The fake news is catching up to your narrative! [image source]

Well, it has become shockingly clear that the Russian targeted propaganda -- often artificially driven into the appearance of actual political inertia by Russian or right wing domestic "click bots" -- was also the driving factor in the unexpected Republican Congressional and Senate majorities. Voters didn't spontaneously begin to support these vacuous candidates. They were saturated with individually targeted propaganda, tailored to "hit the sweet spot" by massive, corporate analytics firms contracted to Jared Kushner.

MeanMesa has posted it before. The Trump voters are essentially nihilists. There is, basically, no possible policy the Presidency or these fabricated Congressional majorities can "hand over" to placate the Trump base. It amounts to a "going out of business sale" for a failing "bargain basement" five and dime store. The only "on-going investment" is the cost of keeping these already addled voters aflame with every incendiary pitch from racism to very suspiciously convenient tenets of biblical lunacy.

1. The DEEP BENCH waiting in the Wings

Trump's bench of oligarch loving toadies is deep, indeed.

It turns out that this is possibly the most promising of all factors which might serve to keep Trump in the White House. If Trump were gone, a line of equally corrupt Republicans would be awaiting their own chance "to rule." Both Pence and Ryan have already been paid generously for their enduring promises to turn the Social Security Trust over to Wall Street at the first moment they might have the chance.

There aren't really many other alternatives to fill an Oval Office desk once it were to be abandoned by Trump.

A quick glance at the fist fulls of Wall Street bankers surrounding Trump is telling. The question quickly develops two important sides. First, these "captains of industry" [Sometimes they prefer to be called "masters of the universe."] were already incredibly rich before Trump selected them -- far too rich to be tempted by the modest Federal salaries paid to Cabinet Secretaries. Second, Wall Street brokers, bankers and hedgies have never had much of a "patriotic impulse" which might have served to explain their sudden interest in "working as public servants."

No, this crowd, saturated with Goldman-Sachs suits, is chasing cash. Further, it has to be a LOT of cash to persuade them to dump their old jobs which were already paying them LOTS of cash. Whatever scheme Trump laid on the table as an incentive, the "pay out" had to be monumental to compete with what these Cabinet members already had going.

There is, as a matter of scale, only one visible collection of money large enough to entice this crowd to walk away from their 1% status. The US spends $6 Trillion annually on health care. We've already seen this starting with the Trump plan to gut Medicaid. So far, the estimated amount of money targeted for "extraction" ranges between $20-30 Bn to $100 Bn.

During his campaign Trump boasted to his rally attendees that he "knew where the money" could be found. This is, apparently, one of those rare occasions when Donald J. Trump was telling the truth.

[Remember, this style of "nation wide" looting is very inefficient. The amount of cash successfully "stolen and pocketed" is almost always much less than the total damage. Still, a "target amount" even as high as $100 Bn to be "liberated" from a $6 Tn total amounts to one sixtieth -- 1/60. The only example of the process being even more efficient is that of Putin as he patiently "monetized" the assets of the old Soviet Union.

First, Vlad collected a couple dozen "cash heavy" mobsters with the ambition of becoming oligarchic billionaires, then he slowly sold them everything of value for a dime on the dollar. Although all these criminals are now billionaires, each one of them remains vulnerable to Putin's "destruction," hence, the unusual loyalty we see.]

2. Sometimes Paralytic Obstruction in DC Is A "Good Thing"

The actual contest is between twisted ideology and bitter, personal resentment.

[Happily, no Democrats will be harmed in this free for all.]

The GOP "policy" ambitions hidden below the shadows are horrendous. Happily, the Republicans in the current House and Senate have been the victims of a true "political gnawing" conducted by an increasingly frustrated Trump. The brave faces of those still claiming a good natured stoicism -- an eerie, self-destructive "party loyalty" -- are quietly wincing over their Trump inflicted scars and bruises in private.

Congressmen -- but especially, Senators -- really don't like vicious, repeated political betrayal from their same party President. The question of the day is a simple one: "Are the constituent voters who elected these frightened politicians listening to them or to Trump?" Soon enough the same question will include: "Who is now listening to the recently discharged Steve Bannon?" Such a spirited contest for the hearts and minds of roughly 30% of voters is disturbing.

Nonetheless, ignoring public poll results brings its own...uh...reward. The brash, observed behavior of the shell shocked, tattered remnants of the GOP suggests that these Republicans believe their political support is growing instead of precipitously dwindling.

A Glimpse At Our Not Too Promising Near Future

There is practically no prospect for much of Trump's GOP policy to advance in the GOP controlled Congress. Although preventing a massive default and a government shut down for three months would have been a very modest accomplishment in times past, Trump's recent [shockingly out of character] deal with Senator Schumer and Nancy Pelosi was a startling break in the total inaction we've seen on about everything else.

There is a possibility that what we've already observed of the Trump Administration might prove to be a "revitalizing" water shed for the Democrats, but MeanMesa has seen that Party demolish every opportunity it has encountered for years.

Unhappily, we should probably be planning for a war. This is practically a "no brainer" for an un-elected Republican President once matters reach a desperate, political nadir during an administration. Trump has already shown his complete willingness to corrupt the DIA for his personal political use in the N. Korean matter.

On the brighter side, MeanMesa is probably safe - neither Trump nor Sessions is much of a reader.

So, don't lament national paralysis. Consider it a possible path leading to national survival.